1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a construction and a method regarding electrical connection between a head mounting member of a recording apparatus and a head member detachably mountable on the head mounting member.
2. Related Background Art
In ink jet printers, conventionally, in many cases, electrical contact between a body side carriage and a detachable head has been effected by connecting a projection of a flexible cable provided on the carriage to a contact pad portion of a head cartridge.
In this case, a rubber pad having a projection is provided on a rear surface of the flexible cable so that positional error of a contact portion is absorbed by elasticity of rubber, thereby stabilizing contact pressure between the contacts. However, since the error absorbing ability of the rubber pad is poor and the elasticity of rubber varies with change in temperature, it may be difficult to obtain a positive contacting condition.
To cope with this, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 9-86012 (1997), there is provided a technique in which a connector comprised of a plurality of metal connection pieces is attached to a carriage and the connector and a head cartridge are electrically connected to each other.
According to such a technique, the positional error absorbing range is increased by elasticity of the metal connection pieces, and, since the metal connection pieces are rocked completely independently, all of the contacts can be maintained in the positive contacting condition.
However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, since the metal connection pieces are arranged laterally in a line, when contacts are further increased, a length of the connector is increased accordingly, thereby making the head cartridge and the carriage more bulky.
Further, as the number of contacts is increased, a reaction force of contact pressure generated in each contact becomes great considerably. That is to say, if the connector is not secured to the carriage by a force overcoming such reaction force, the contacting condition becomes unstable.
In the past, since a portion of a contact substrate to which the connector is welded was secured to the carriage by screws, the contact substrate was flexed by the reaction force, with the result that the contacting condition might be unstable and/or the contact substrate might be damaged.